4th June 2011, 9:13 PM
A-Channel is so boring, what do you see in it?
The Twelve Kingdoms 36-39 - Peak point of the series, I imagine! This part was great, there was lots of action and events moved quickly. It was great to see 12-plus episodes of foreshadowing and planning finally result in something. I still think that overall this show is too slow paced, but this part wasn't.
It definitely made me annoyed that the anime stops here, though... this is only the middle of the story, I know there's another half of the book series left that this doesn't cover. What happens after this? Who knows, we never will apparently, and as most of the books aren't available in English, we won't anytime soon either I guess. :(
As for the story, the three main female characters get along well, and did good work, along with the rebel armies, in winning the day. It was great to see that in the last of these episodes even Keiki actually did something useful, he hadn't in quite a while (if ever). :) Also, the true mastermind of the evil group is revealed... interesting, I did suspect him but it wasn't absolutely certain until he gave himself away in these episodes. Fortunately, Youko was much less passive and unresisting than he expected, and his scheming actually was key in causing the badguys' downfall. Things would have been much more difficult without that royal army there to use to defeat the villains with. :)
I must say though, three people going up against a whole army, even just as a stalling tactic, and they all survive fine? Youko has those spirits helping her, sure, but that other guy was just a bear, and the third just a human... I know, this is anime and in anime such things are possible even against hails of arrows, but it is kind of silly. Most of the rest of the fights were reasonable, though.
I also like Youko's choice for a first proclamation. Trying to modernize the Twelve Kingdoms' social customs a bit, huh, by banning genuflecting? Great idea!
It's just really too bad that the series doesn't go anywhere much after here, and that the rest of the book series wasn't animated.
The Twelve Kingdoms 36-39 - Peak point of the series, I imagine! This part was great, there was lots of action and events moved quickly. It was great to see 12-plus episodes of foreshadowing and planning finally result in something. I still think that overall this show is too slow paced, but this part wasn't.
It definitely made me annoyed that the anime stops here, though... this is only the middle of the story, I know there's another half of the book series left that this doesn't cover. What happens after this? Who knows, we never will apparently, and as most of the books aren't available in English, we won't anytime soon either I guess. :(
As for the story, the three main female characters get along well, and did good work, along with the rebel armies, in winning the day. It was great to see that in the last of these episodes even Keiki actually did something useful, he hadn't in quite a while (if ever). :) Also, the true mastermind of the evil group is revealed... interesting, I did suspect him but it wasn't absolutely certain until he gave himself away in these episodes. Fortunately, Youko was much less passive and unresisting than he expected, and his scheming actually was key in causing the badguys' downfall. Things would have been much more difficult without that royal army there to use to defeat the villains with. :)
I must say though, three people going up against a whole army, even just as a stalling tactic, and they all survive fine? Youko has those spirits helping her, sure, but that other guy was just a bear, and the third just a human... I know, this is anime and in anime such things are possible even against hails of arrows, but it is kind of silly. Most of the rest of the fights were reasonable, though.
I also like Youko's choice for a first proclamation. Trying to modernize the Twelve Kingdoms' social customs a bit, huh, by banning genuflecting? Great idea!
It's just really too bad that the series doesn't go anywhere much after here, and that the rest of the book series wasn't animated.
![[Image: logo_bos_79x76.jpg]](https://www.tendocity.net/logo_bos_79x76.jpg){kind=logo}